Chapter 23

Chapter

Twenty-Three

Cerran scanned the horizon, his flight path taking him over top of the extra sentries Cain had posted. Something was pushing at his senses, something that told him he needed to be on guard.

He hated the sensation. If any keep was safe for his family, it was Cain's. But he still felt as though he needed to patrol in his off time.

When he wasn't training a bunch of angry young alphas how not to be so damn unhappy to be here.

Cerran had to admit that he didn't get it. He didn't understand how anyone could be unhappy here.

There was good food. There were amazing training salles. There was good company.

He just didn't understand.

He pondered as he flew, forcing himself to focus on the young alphas and their needs. He supposed more than anything it was the knowledge that they hadn't been wanted by another keep more than anything else.

He didn't really even have the experience of that in his life, honestly.

Yes, he had been in prison with the other alphas. But everyone had known that it was because of Leilani and the stone, not because the warriors with him had been rejected by the keep.

Had he only done what he was asked, even something as absolutely abhorrent as killing an infant? They would have invited him back in, allowed him his place.

But no, that would have been too easy.

He had insisted that they rescue the most perfect baby alive and drag her all around the world.

He snorted at himself. Simple, right?

Very little of this had been easy.

He also had to remind himself that he had managed to come here with his mate and his child. He had not come to live in barracks, but to live in a beautiful apartment. That he had done very little to actually earn the glorious life he enjoyed.

So he needed to have empathy for the young ones. They needed time to find their place in the world. Like Durango and Boone and Reno, though, they would learn to be proud of the keep they belonged to now, and they would fight to protect it.

He whirled, soaring back down toward the lake, letting his claws skim the icy waters. He knew a threat could come from anywhere, not just from over the mountains. He trumpeted at a couple of other flyers, and they dipped their wings at him. He did love the freedom here.

He missed the ocean.

The lake was big and icy and the mountains were stunning, and the snow was surprisingly wonderful.

It wouldn't be terribly long before they, Leilani, and the twins would be able to go out and build snow dragons.

He knew that Leilani would be clearing paths for her, for her siblings, the fire just blazing from her.

He was desperately curious to meet the twins. To see who they were colored like, how they responded to people.

He wanted to know what they looked like a little bit, too. After all, for as much as Triton said he didn't care, they were both curious to see the twins.

More than looks, though, Cerran was curious.

If they were boys, if they were girls. Were they alphas? Were they omegas? Were they healers? Did they create electricity? Did they make steam? Was it something completely different?

He wasn't sure how people managed to wait.

He'd been lucky before, because with Leilani, she was already there, and then he had her, and he loved her, but he knew her.

This was a surprise.

All the parts were surprise. And Elowyn swore that he didn't know.

But it seemed impossible to Cerran that his hailee could be holding the babies right underneath his heart and not hear them speak.

It didn't make any sense.

Maybe he should ask again. That was it.

He would just go home, and he would ask Elowyn to try to talk to the babies. Again.

As he made the turn to start heading home, lost in his thoughts about hailees and babies and mates, he never even saw the bolt of energy that sent him crashing to the ground.

Triton felt a punch to his chest that took his breath. And he wasn't sparring with anyone. No, he was standing in line at the kitchens, waiting for a cup of coffee.

But the blow brought him to his knees, squeezing the air out of him.

"Cerran!"

It was Reno who was at his side in seconds, one arm around him to support him, their bodies already moving toward the large balcony where they would be able to shift and launch themselves out over the lake. "What is it?" Reno asked.

Something happened to Cerran.

Where?

Triton was dizzy, caught up in the vacuum inside his brain, and he shook his head, throwing off the sensation.

Whoever had attacked his mate, he would find them.

Do you hear me, Cerran? I will find you. I'm coming for you.

"He was patrolling. It happened toward the north of the lake, I think?" Triton had to trust his instincts.

Boone frowned. "That's a long way out. What was he doing out there?"

Reno growled softly. "It doesn't matter. I'm going with Triton. You stay here. Close the wing. Tell Durango to get to Cain."

Reno barked the orders like a dragon who had been dealing with strategy and men for a very long time.

Triton appreciated it because all he could think about was Cerran and about this sudden, horrifying emptiness in his brain.

Braaken! Triton! Something's wrong! Something's wrong with Cerran! Something's really wrong. Elowyn's mental voice was piercing his brain.

Not now. Triton couldn't deal with Elowyn as well. Watch the children. Take the stones, all the heartstones, and lock them away. They're coming.

I will keep them safe. Elowyn's resolve came through, and pride filled a warm little place in his chest. He could count on their hailee to do as he said, no matter his state.

Get Rowan to help you. I love you. And then he had to put that part of him away and focus on his dragon self and launching into the air to go retrieve his alpha mate.

There was no way he was allowing his mate to be taken back to that keep. To be punished for his choices, for the damage he had caused.

In fact, if they weren't careful, Triton was going to make them sorry that they had ever heard his name at all. There was no question he was going to make them regret coming after his new home.

His child.

And his Cerran.

Reno glanced at him. "It's time to go, brother. Let's get these sons of bitches. It's time they understand we won't pay for their mistakes."

"Yes, brother." It was time to go find his lover and defend their home from interlopers.

Elowyn moved fast as he could, zipping around the house and closing the apartment up, taking heartstones and locking them away in a safe deep in the part of the house that had been his room.

Then he created a barricade in the nursery for Leilani. It was the most protected room, the one with the least access to the outside.

Hey, Leilani, I need you to hear me.

She stared at him like he was insane, like she couldn't understand why he was running around like an idiot, his belly ahead of him like the prow of a ship.

I know, I know, you don't understand, but you have to listen. Sofii needs you to be very quiet. If the bad men come, you have to be very quiet and you have to be very still and you can't say anything.

Because they were coming.

Elowyn didn't know how he knew, but he did. They'd already hurt Cerran, and Triton was gone, and that was what they had wanted.

They'd needed to pull the defending braaken away and to leave the rest of them exposed.

Do you need me there? Do you want me to come to you? Rowan's mental touch was worried, pointed. Elowyn wanted more than anything in the entire world to say yes, but the fact was that Rowan was responsible for every pregnant omega in the keep.

Every single one.

And as much as he wanted to beg for help, to ask his brother to be with him? He couldn't.

The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few.

While he could go down to be with all the others, that would just put them all in danger.

They were coming for him.

They were coming for Leilani.

They were coming for the damned stone.

And he knew it.

A little burst of energy hit him right between the eyes—a little bubble of joy that stung like he'd been hit with a spark.

Leilani blew a spark at him, grinned.

He hoped that that meant that she in some way understood him, but he didn't know. He couldn't talk to her, just like he couldn't talk to the babies.

How could those babies be right there under his heart and he couldn't?—

A thump sounded on the balcony, heavy and hard.

Elowyn tilted his head. No, there was no way.

No one could have breached the defenses in that deep, that fast.

He held his breath until it made him dizzy, and then he tried to let it out as quietly as he could. Why couldn't he have electricity like Triton or boiling steam like Cerran? A healing touch did no good against an attacker.

The doors rattled, then glass shattered, and he put a hand over his mouth to keep from crying out. He situated himself between the door and Leilani, casting about desperately for some kind of weapon, not sure he should shift in this small space.

Sofii?

Shh. Hide, Leilani. Small as you can.

Like a mouse.

Triton. Triton, love. They're here. In the apartment.

That was about as much as he got before what felt like a bubble surrounded him and everything began to echo.

The door flew open, all his locks utterly useless.

The dragon who stood there, smiled at him with a vicious sneer, was a deep purple with long razorlike teeth and a pointed snout unlike anything he'd seen before.

When he spoke, his words were clipped, like it hurt him to spit them out. "I'm here for the stone. And the children?" The dragon held up one hand, and the claws on the end were like scalpels. "You should be far enough along that they survive."

Everything in Elowyn went white hot and cold as ice, all in the same moment. No one was going to hurt his babies. None of them.

He stood there between Leilani and the interloper, meeting those soon-to-be-dead eyes straight on.

"You can try."